Making Under $20 An Hour? Watch Out For The Rise Of The Machines

A senior economic adviser to U.S. President Barack Obama has issued a warning to lower-wage earners: You risk losing your job to a machine.

“Technological advances in recent decades have brought tremendous benefits but have also contributed to increasing inequality and falling [workforce] participation,” said Jason Furman, chairman of the Council of Economic Advisers, in a speech in New York last week.

Self-service checkout aisles at supermarkets are a sign that lower-wage jobs are being taken by machines, says Jason Furman, chairperson of the Council of Economic Advisers. (Photo: Fairfax Media via Getty Images)

A 2013 study from the University of Oxford found that 47 per cent of existing U.S. employment is at risk of automation. Furman’s council took that data and analyzed it to see how it would impact people at different points on the income ladder.

What they found was that lower-wage earners would be disproportionately affected. Those earning under US$20 an hour have an 83-per-cent chance of losing their jobs to machines. Those earning above $40 have only a four per cent chance of being replaced by software or a robot.

“This means a large decline in the demand for less-skilled jobs and little decline in the demand for higher-skilled jobs,” Furman said.

“If anything, the new trends could put more pressure on earnings inequality.”

Furman said the evidence of automation is already all around us — "for example, when we go shopping and take our groceries to a kiosk instead of a cashier, or when we call a customer service help line and interact with an automated customer service representative.”

Telesales people have a 99% chance of having their jobs automated, according to the study.
While the National Careers Service says that telephone operators working in call centres are chosen for their ability to conversate with the public, the likelihood of automation remains the highest of any sector.
Around 47,000 people are employed in the UK with this job title.

Those working as typists or data entry clerks have the second highest risk of automation, according to the study.
The National Careers Service says those working as clerks "should be able to work quickly and accurately, and pay attention to detail."

Those who sort goods at warehouses are at high risk of automation, as are all jobs which are manual, repetitive, and which require little creativity.
The National Careers Service says that those working in warehouses "need to have a good level of fitness.. be able to work quickly... and also need to complete paperwork and count stock items."

Those who inspect or test products and machines on production lines are at high risk of automation.
Henry Ford was the first industrialist to utilise the power of mass production methods, and these continue to be honed by modern day manufacturers.
But now the human element of checking the quality of production is likely to be automated.

But automation will also affect the professions. One role to have a high risk of automation is that of legal secretary.
These jobs " need excellent written and spoken communication skills, and be able to work in a busy office working to deadlines", according to the National Careers Service.
The average salary is £18,000, and education to A-level standard is often required.

Another long standing profession to have a high probability of automation is that of financial planning and non-chartered accountancy.
Roles such as finance officer, payroll assistants, and other number crunching tasks are likely to be automated as artificial intelligence increases.
Chartered accountants have a lower risk of automation at 95.3%.

Sales administrators and assistants are at high risk of automation.
Staff costs represent a huge proportion of a retailer's cost base, and big employers already use automation to plan staff hours and control schedules of their workers.
In the future, though - we may become even more accustomed to the robotic voices of self-service tills, and do much more shopping online.

Alongside accountants and financial officers, tax experts will see automation affect their roles, according to the study.
The study has found tax advice is highly susceptible to automation due to its largely formulaic, repetitive, and computer-based nature.
And the world's tax systems are becoming steadily simpler as more and more self-assessments are conducted by tax payers themselves.